Politics

Waters Calls for Increased Transparency in HUD’s Reverse Mortgage Program

Published

10 years ago

June 10, 2015

Oakland Post

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)

Special to the NNPA from Our Weekly

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), ranking member of the Committee on Financial Services, is calling on the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide meaningful relief and increased transparency for seniors participating in its reverse mortgage program, known as the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program (HECM).

Waters expressed concern that many senior citizens are facing foreclosure, or will face foreclosure due to deceptive lending practices and previous HUD protocol for the HECM program. Until recently, HUD used the age of the youngest borrower in order to calculate the size of the reverse mortgage payout. In many cases, doing so led to the removal of the younger spouse from the home’s title in order to obtain a larger reverse mortgage payout. Many borrowers were outright deceived about the consequences of such a decision on their younger spouse. The result is that many non- borrowing spouses have been foreclosed upon soon after the death of their spouse.

In a letter sent to HUD Secretary Julian Castro this week, the top Democrat wrote “on behalf of thousands of senior citizens,” who continue to face the prospect of foreclosure due to HUD’s flawed administration of the HECM and fraudulent lending practices in the housing market. She requested that the department reevaluate their response to the issue and provide additional insight into the fiscal limitations of delivering real relief to vulnerable seniors.

Finally, Waters wrote, “I urge you to reconsider the limited scope of relief that HUD has offered thus far in response to the concerns raised by senior borrowers and advocates working on their behalf. While I understand the tension created by the need to balance the fiscal condition of the MMIF, and to protect borrowers who have been victimized by unfair lending tactics, I hope that HUD will do everything in its power to provide much needed relief to these senior citizens.”

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

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5 days ago

June 7, 2025

Oakland Post

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.